After a moment of small grace
I realized in its presence there is nothing small.

Don’t brag about your good fortune in bad weather
unless you’re ready to hear how theirs is better

Here I wait resting on the door jamb
standing betwixt and between
shall I stay here or drop my hand,
move beyond what I’ve known and seen?
What will be out there to my left and right
where will the next step take me from here?
They said danger is there out of my sight -
threats, jinxes, and disease if that step I dare.

But if I move back into the shady cool
I’ll be safe in this cozy inner space.
Being in between without old rules
not knowing the beyond I’ll face
is scary but this is a journey of revelation
even if sacrifice and loss is in this race
I trust I will find peace and inspiration.

is an arc I can catch a ride on
to an infinity of realms -
time travel
heaven
hell
love
friends
enemies
words
soul
fields
seas
fresh breeze
banyan trees
...

You are a valve I can turn
to open the flow of love
into my day
into my heart.

Guilt and its grave cousin shame
a heavy gnarled ball and chain
on my ankle, holding me back
sinking me into bloodthirsty black.

Slave?
By Glenn Currier

I had forgotten him
until he appeared in a dream -
he so qualified
me so average -
and I awakened barely recalling him
but the shame attacked me with a fury
and has not loosened its grip
even in the late afternoon.
And I thought I became a different person
after twenty years,
even in the last five years.
Am I still shackled to that old self
with scars like ex-slaves carried
from the chains and whips?
It seems people fade but feelings rarely do.